Okay everyone, we have been hearing from quite a few people about their negative experiences with MM. I received 29 chicks Tuesday from them, and while I lost 3 within the first 48 hours which I understand is'nt all that unusual (one was doa) the others seem to be doing really well!
Only thing is this is my first time raising chickens and I am a nervous wreck as it is, and my anxiety has been further fueled by these 'horror stories' i've been hearing here, and honestly I feel it has prevented me from allowing myself to bond with these chicks!
So bottom line, Ive heard the bad, and would really LOVE to hear some positive experiences with MM, the 'other side' just to help me put my mind at ease.
Thanks guys!

I'm in North western NC, the Blue Ridge Mountains, we are actually close to the VA and TN borders.
It was cold here while the chicks were in transit, and the morning they arived (in the 20's) wouldnt ya know it is warmed up now (60's during the day) anyway they were also delayed a day due to the snow, I imagine, so over all not a bad loss considering.

I've only ever ordered from MM and I've had no really bad experiences with them. I've gotten 3 orders of 25 various Rock varieties over the past 2 years and have had one chick from each order die. They all died within 3 days of arrival. MM always put a few extra in with the orders so I always still had the numbers I wanted. I'm expecting an order of 50+ from them on Monday so I'll let you know how that goes.

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but my feeling is that if a chick does not survive the shipping she may not be thrifty to begin with. I'm not talking about chicks that die from a problem at the hatchery or being shipped in bad weather, but there is always a mortality percentage - even with chicks that are hatched in an incubator or naturally. A chick that is not strong may have problems later that I would rather not deal with. All of the chicks that I have gotten from MM have grown into strong, healthy adults that produce well. Also, I've always only ordered females and have never had any mistakes with sexing from MM.

Quote:Popular opinion and "mother nature" for lack of a better word,usually dot not agree.

Broody hens will cull there own if left alone.
I try to help every chick that is before me, but if you look into chicken history only the strongest and the best survived.

While we think that every chick we order should survive, that is playing with the laws of "mother nature"

If you look at most hatcheries web sites long enough you will find they do not guarantee better than say 75% survivability.

There are allot of factors involved in shipping chicks, if 1 goes wrong the chicks may be good to go,but if 2 things go wrong well then you have problems,then if 3 problems arise during shipping ,including a poor hatch, you have very weak chicks or worse.